Former VA Employee Sentenced to Prison for Identity Theft

On March 6, 2014, the US Attorney’s Office for the middle district of Florida announced the sentencing of David F. Lewis, a former VA employee, to 6 years in federal prison for access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. His sentence also included a money judgement in the amount of $105,271. According to court documents and testimony presented in court, Lewis, as an employee at the Tampa VA Medical Center accessed and printed personal information including names, social security numbers and medical information,on at least 5 different dates in 2012, of over 100 veterans, who were in-patients at the Tampa VA Medical Center. Lewis subsequently gave this information to someone else in exchange for crack cocaine with the full knowledge that the veterans’ information would be used by others to file fraudulent tax returns and fraudulently obtain tax refunds. The Department of Veteran’s Affairs is paying for credit monitoring services for those known victims who were affected by Lewis’ theft.